Some learning about yearning

Dear friend

To "yearn" is to feel an emotion very deeply. Yearning has an effect on the person beyond simply sensing. The feeling can escape past the mind and heart to be felt like a physical sensation of the body.

There are a couple of examples of yearning from the scriptures. The first involves Joseph of Egypt at the moment he is reunited with his little brother Benjamin (while still unbeknownst to his assembled brethren). It is from the Old Testament, Genesis 43:29, 30.

29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.
30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.

Joseph was so greatly affected by seeing his younger brother after all those years that he felt a deep yearning, so much so he had to rush to his room and weep.

The second incident concerns the Prophet Enoch as recorded in the Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7:41.

41 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook.

From his vision, Enoch's panoramic perception of worldly wickedness and the misery it caused made this sensitive Seer yearn deep within himself. He too wept.

We are all touched by deep emotions, and sometimes moved to tears. We have to be, it is part of the human condition. At times human emotions are wonderful, at times woeful. And yearning seems to be an enlarged and elevated emotional experience. As such - and although the word is not used - I imagine the Lord yearned at the zenith of the Atonement, deeper than anyone ever has or ever will. He had to, it was an essential part of His human experience on our behalf. I also believe the Father yearns for us, that we will follow His Son on the path back to Him.

I hope any yearning we experience is the result of Christlike love for others. I pray we will yearn for God's salvation to come to all mankind, yearn for a withering of worldly wickedness, and yearn for the love of Jesus Christ to fill the earth.

Samuel.